A Look At The Vanderbilt Commodores

The Huskies will have played a second Southeastern Conference team before their first Big East game in 2010 when they host the Vanderbilt Commodores at Rentschler Field on Oct. 2. UConn beat South Carolina in the Papajons.com Bowl in January.

First meeting: 2002

Vanderbilt last season: (2-10, 0-8 SEC)

Who's gone, who's back: Losing a combined 11 starters from a winless SEC team doesn't bode well but that's what the Commodores are facing. They have a scary early schedule to boot. Big losses come on defense in linebacker Chris Marve, Sean Richardson and Myron Lewis.Vanderbilt was the worst team in the conference against the primarily run-oriented SEC. Now that some of these guys are gone, it could be ugly.

Jumpy junior quarterback Larry Smith threw for 1,126 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions and led an offense that scored just 15 times on 36 red zone attempts.Vanderbilt does have an offensive bright spot in running back Warren Norman, the SEC Freshman of the Year who rushed for more than 750 yards. Norman also returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.For the Commodores, their strength and talent is in their younger players so it may be a minute before they make some noise.

The UConn-Vanderbilt rivalry: The teams have met once and Vandy won 28-24 in Nashville in 2002.

What's at stake? Vandy falling into an 0-3 hole to start the season. The Commodores open with Northwestern, LSU and UConn.

The Vanderbilt Schedule: The Commodores have Northwestern, UConn, Eastern Michigan and Wake Forest on the schedule as nonconference opponents. Vandy better focus on winning as many of these as possible because victories over schools such as Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, LSU and Arkansas don't seem likely this year.